May22, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and 20 other committee members, today sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to express their deep concerns regarding the Administration’s decision to formally submit the notice of intent to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty. Read the full letter here.

“We write to you today to express our deep concern regarding the Administration’s decision to formally submit the notice of intent to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty without the legally-required notification to Congress, and the negative impact this will have on our national security and the security of our transatlantic allies and partners in Europe,” the members wrote.

“We are particularly troubled with the Administration’s blatant violation of the law in providing the intent to withdraw from the Treaty without prior notification to Congress, as required by Section 1234 of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (FY20 NDAA). Section 1234 is a legally-binding requirement for a joint certification from the Secretary of State and yourself that “(1) such withdrawal is in the best interests of national security; and (2) the other state parties to the Treaty have been consulted with respect to such withdrawal” 120 days prior to the notice of intent being submitted to either Treaty depository. We demand an explanation for why we received neither the notification nor the certification required under the law.”